Matt Moulding


Matt Moulding is founder of The Hut Group.

Early life

Moulding was born in Burnley, Lancashire and attended Fisher More High School in Colne.
Moulding studied industrial economics at the University of Nottingham before going on to qualify as a chartered accountant. His father was a tarmac contractor and his mother was an antiques trader.
He went on to work at the Caudwell Group, where he became finance director of the distribution business, working directly with John Caudwell.

Career

In 2004, Moulding founded The Hut Group, originally inspired from buying a CD online. He said that he recognised that selling online could be "fundamentally so much cheaper".
After investing £500,000 in the company, it took the business three years to break even, initially selling CDs online from the Channel Islands to avoid VAT. Moulding persuaded Sir Terry Leahy and Sir Stuart Rose to become early investors.
Following the launch of the iPhone and rising in digital music streaming Moulding shifted his focus to selling other products online, and acquired a number of other e-commerce businesses, including IWantOneOfThose.com, Lookfantastic, MyProtein, Zavvi, and Illamasqua. In 2014, KKR bought a 20 percent of the business.
In 2013, it was reported that Moulding was considering floating the company.
As of 2016, the company operates 100 e-commerce websites. As of 2018, the company operated 166 websites.
In 2018, it was announced that Moulding would be stepping down as CEO to become Executive Chairman.

Personal life

Moulding lives in Northwich, and has four children. He has said that he avoids international travel. Moulding owns a Lamborghini Urus.
In 2015, Moulding signed a letter supporting the Conservative Party in the 2015 general election.
According to The Sunday Times Rich List in May 2019, he has a net worth of £600 million. In an interview Moulding gave to The Sunday Times in July 2019, he said he earns "about £1 million" a year.
He is a supporter of the Seashell Trust.